Most of us will agree that Corrie is suffering with many issues at the moment but with each episode I am getting more frustrated by the show's lack of interest in trying to depict time passing over the course of a day.

Every episode seems to be set during daylight hours but there is little concept of time passing as an episode progresses. There's no distinction between morning/afternoon or evening. Moments in which different characters seem to be doing things that are 'out of sync' with the time of day seem to be becoming more frequent. There was much talk in the media of Liz sitting down to watch Loose Women with a glass of wine, with no reference being made in the episode as to what time of day Liz. Was she watching a recording of Loose Women? ITV Player? Or was it actually 12:30 in the afternoon and Loose Women was airing live?

Last night we had Luke and Maria going to some fancy do with Caz simultaneously going to a job interview. What time was it meant to be? 11am? 2pm? 7pm? The episode was supposedly set on a Friday but neither Faye nor Bethany were at school, even though they've been frequently seen in their school uniforms over the past week or so.

These are just some examples from recent episodes.

To me, this just highlights the slapdash approach that the Corrie production team have with the show these days. If they can't be bothered to manage these small elements of production, then how can we have any belief in them to produce an all-round quality show?

Well Bethany had been suspended and Faye did mention at one point going back to school for (what I assume was) afternoon registration.

To be fair, the current episodes were likely shot in June/July, if they'd have wanted night time scenes, they would have had to wait til 10/11pm to shoot them all.

I refuse to make excuses!

They could focus on interior scenes to make it feel like night time. They don't always need scenes on the backlot.

My main point is that it's a lazy and uninspired approach to episode making. There's no variety in episodes these days and that is starting to manifest as continuity errors or viewers questioning the credibility of the show.

You are far more au fait with the structuring of soaps KK, I only tend to comment on character related issues, so who is at fault here? Is it whoever's editing the episodes & how does that work? Is it s continuity issue? Is there even a continuity department?

I do agree with you it is so shoddily put together!!

It's hard to pinpoint because there are so many people involved in production these days but it's definitely a pre-production problem that lies with the storyliners, writers and directors.

For me, the main blame lies with the writer of each individual episode, as they have overall control of setting the timeframe for the episode. The writer is given a detailed story document that outlines in very strict terms how the stories must develop within that episode (move the story from point A to point B) but it's always been my understanding that the writer has freedom to decide how certain elements of the episode appear (locations used, times of day, character actions such as them doing the ironing, cleaning windows or going on the cake run).

I would expect any writer to firmly root their episodes in a defined time frame and use various methods of referencing this during the episode. This can include explicit dialogue ("It's gone 8:30, you'll be late for school!") or through costume (characters wearing PJs or getting ready for work in the morning, children in school uniforms) or other set and action related things such as clocks on the wall, shops visibly being opened for the day or, less relevant these days, milk being delivered.

Much of this just doesn't happen or when it does, there has been nothing else in the episode to establish the time frame so some points feel very much out of place - like with Liz, the wine and Loose women or the Caz/Maria stuff from last night's episodes.

What I'm not sure about is the extent to which episodes are tweaked by production staff during filming. The director, for instance, may alter how a scene plays out which might result in losing some of the intended time markers set out by the writer. Similarly, the props or wardrobe department may not be able to provide the correct resources so those elements might be cut from the episode.

I will reiterate that the real problem is that now Corrie is such a massive production churning out so much material, the gaps aren't being plugged and glitches are starting to show. They are very good with visual continuity (making sure people and sets look the same in every scene) but the more abstract elements such as time are starting to slip up. The production team as a whole needs to be much stricter on how it operates so that nothing slips through the net. This is just my assumption but I always feel that there are many battles between personalities within the production team and a lot of people 'get their own way' a lot of the time. Some writers (*cough* Jonathan Harvey *cough*) seem able to do what the hell they like with episodes while others tow the line. It's this inconsistency that I worry is starting to show on screen and will only get worse when the sixth episode starts to air. Someone needs to take charge of the show and put the good of the show as top priority over the wants and desires of the production team. Coronation Street needs to be the focus of everyone's attention.

What bugs me is how people can go missing from the factory for weeks at a time. It's a full time job but Sinead and Beth seem to be the only ones on full time hours! Fiz is very rarely seen behind a machine, and the rest go awol on a regular basis. When's the last time Alya turned up for work?

I remember this happening years ago, think it was when Janice and Dennis were having an affair, and they were meant to be lying in bed at night, when the sun was clearly blaring through the window

Also in last nights episode you had Todd in his pyjamas watching a DVD with Billy with the sun blazing outside

Surely shooting "day for night" is a technique which has been around since film making began? It's so well known that there's even a 1973 film with that very title.

I'm close to giving up watching this dirge.